The high school cross country season ended last Saturday at the finish line at a course at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins.

According to Coach Scott Anderson, the course was dry, the day was beautiful, with no weather-related issues. And his teams, he said, did what they were expected to do.

The Pirate boys’ team placed ninth among all Class 3A teams at the meet; the girls’ team was 11th.

Carlos Brinkman had a good day at Fort Collins. The Pirate broke the tape in 15th place overall, posting a time of 17 minutes, 6.58 seconds.

Ryan Hamilton was 36th, with a time of 17:50.28.

Michael Gallegos placed 61st, finishing at 18:30 .48.

Moses Huck was the fourth and final Pirate to score team points, placing 104th, at 19:33.73.

Evan Brookens ran the course in 19:46.23 and Jacob Anderson ran a time of 20:19.78.

Brooke Hampton was the first Pirate girl across the finish line. Hampton was 39th in the field, with a time of 21:24.66.

Katarina Medici placed 41st, at 21:25.75.

Danielle Pajak hit a time of 22:09.31, good for 66th place.

Mele LeLievre was 75th, at 22:30.26.

Crystal Purcell finished the run with a time of 22:33.41. Haleigh Zenz had a time of 22:49.51.

“Our kids were as ready as they could be,” said Anderson. “They had practiced well for two weeks. Some nerves, and some inexperience (three members on each team were at their first state meet), played a role.”

According to Anderson, Brinkman was second among all sophomores on the state course, finishing approximately three seconds behind a sophomore runner from The Classical Academy. Brinkman ran the only personal best time among the Pirates.

“Brooke ran really well two weeks ago,” said the coach, “and she continued the trend. Katarina ran a good race, and I was happy with it. Mele ran a very good race and took off the most time from the previous meet of all our runners. Our girls’ team finished ahead of every team from our region.”

Reflecting on the season, Anderson said, “Overall, I’m pretty happy. I was very pleased with the girls getting the regional championship. We were not the deepest we’ve ever been on either side this year, so to see the improvement we saw, and to wring out what we did, was gratifying. It was a pretty good year.”

Most of the runners will return next season. Hamilton, Gallegos and Anderson are the senior runners on the boys’ side; Medici the only senior girl on the state meet team.